X-Force: A Star Wars story
by Bakkughan
Summary: On the holy city on Jedha, Cassian and Jyn run into a man, who in turn runs into a blasterbolt to the face. Sad, yes, but not an unusual sight when you're fighting the Empire. What is unusual though, is that the man keeps on fighting despite missing half of his face... showing a metal skull... and having six metal claws. The fate of the Galaxy is changed, but how?
1. Chapter 1

In the holy city on the moon Jedha, where the Empire is mining the fabled Khyber crystals for a sinister and hidden purpose, in a darkened alleyway, there was a sudden breeze, rifling through the litter on the ground and rattling the grimy windows that were shut against the outside world. Had anyone bothered to check out this back-alley, they would've found the hairs on the back of their neck standing on end (assuming they had hair. Or a neck for that matter) as the smell of ozone filled their nostrils (assuming they had those as well).

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you ask, nobody was around to witness this sudden unexplainable phenomenon, and as such, the sudden flash that heralded the arrival of a man destined to change the fate of the universe went unnoticed. Said man was rather grateful for that, since his arrival was decidedly graceless.

Landing flat on his face with a nasty crunching sound, the human looking male, characterized by a wild mane of hair and heavy sideburns, got unsteadily to his feet, swearing up a storm that would make a Hutt blush, if such slugs were capable of blushing, that is, or capable of feeling any shame at all.

Disorientated, the man struggled to move down the grimy alleyway, towards a bleak light coming from the marketplace which made a halfhearted attempt at some form of illumination, grabbing his thoroughly smashed nose and setting it with a dry _'crack'_ and a new wave of expletives. Blinking the stars from his eyes, even as they adjusted to the steadily growing brightness, the man tried to focus his attention beyond his raging headache, as his hearing picked up faints sounds from the end of the street.

Sounds that were hauntingly familiar.

The sound of battle.

Face grim, the man pushed off the dirt-covered wall he had been leaning against, and staggered towards the open end of the alley, determination blazing from his eyes.

* * *

Jyn Erso was not having a good day. Not something that was all that rare for her in her admittedly short life, but then again this was true for most of the citizens of the Empire if they weren't human or without humanity.

Then again, being shot at made this a worse day than usual, though sadly even being under fire by Imperial Stormtroopers was in itself not that unusual.

Jyn was young, but had led a more eventful life than most.

Ducking behind some crates that shuddered under the impact of the Stormtroopers onslaught, she quickly flicked out her baton, and chanced a glance over the edge of her impromptu shelter, just in time to see a tank go up in flames.

' _Good riddance'_ , the woman thought to herself, before quickly ducking down as the Stormtroopers pressed their attack, either angered or made desperate because of the loss of their allies.

Rolling out from under her cover, Jyn opened fire on the white-clad agents of the Empire, making a break for a better defensible position behind a pillar of one of the houses lining the now abandoned marketplace.

However, as she did so, she saw something that made the blood in her veins run cold. Coming out of one of the endless amount of back-alleys, a human stumbled out onto the marketplace, holding a hand to his head with a grimace. Even as he walked out into the open, Jyn saw a few of the troopers swing their blasters into the confused man's direction.

"NO!"

It was only as she felt her legs pumping underneath her, that Jyn realized she had been the one to yell, already sprinting towards the other human, blaster-bolts screaming just inches from her skin. However, even as the distance between her and the man was dwindling she could see that she would be too late.

Crashing to the ground in order to avoid the Stormtrooper fire, Jyn could only watch as an angry red bolt slammed into the unfortunate man's face, making it jerk to the side. Closing her eyes for a moment in mourning, Jyn quickly opened them and made to scramble for cover, before she realized something was wrong.

The Stormtroopers had ceased firing.

Looking up, Jyn felt her mouth drop open, as she stared at the body of the man that had been shot, which was against all odds still standing upright.

And then the head moved.

Jyn could barely contain her scream as the right side of the unknown human's (though she was beginning to have doubts about that) face became visible. The skin there was completely ripped away, smoldering black at the horrific edges. But where the mangled and charred remains of the man's face should be, there was only a shining metal skull, glaring back at the now nervous looking Stormtroopers from one empty socket and an eye blazing with hatred.

' _snikt!'_

Then three blades sprung between the knuckles on each of the monster's hands, and it roared a challenge at its soon-to-be-dead attackers.

* * *

Not even a hundred feet from the battle, the blind monk Chirrut Imwe paused in his tracks as a roar reached his ears. But more than that, he felt the Force roaring in concert with the sound, washing over him in a tidal wave of anger, making him gasp out in shock.

Immediately, his friend the mercenary Baze Malbus leaned over, concern lining his voice.

"Chirrut! Are you all right? What happened?"

Leaning on his staff, Chirrut turned his blind eyes to his friend, wetting his lips, before whispering a single word.

" _Rage_ …"

* * *

Jyn scrambled back as the metallic monster with his claws extended made his way towards the small group of Stormtroopers, walking far more steadily than when he had stumbled onto their battle, a snarl on his ruined face. The Stormtroopers hesitated only for a few moments watching what by all rights should be a corpse walking their way before they opened fire.

The few bolts that hit the man only jerked his body a little, which made a small part of Jyn's brain still running on auto-pilot, while the rest of it was running around trying to make sense of what it was receiving from her eyes, note that he was far heavier than any human his size could possibly be.

Even after being hit thrice in his shirt-covered chest, and with half his face missing, the man was still standing, and sprinted towards the now decidedly nervous Stormtroopers, dodging the rest of their bolts with freighting ease.

Within the span of one of Jyn's adrenaline-fueled heartbeats he was upon the first Trooper, one hand with glimmering claws raised high above his head. The white clad Stormtrooper instinctively raised his blaster in defense, trusting in the durable materials of his weapon and armor.

The claws descended and to Jyn's unbelieving eyes were barely slowed down by the durasteel of the Imperial blaster, travelling on unimpeded before cutting through the helmet of the Stormtrooper like a lightsaber through bantha butter.

A shocked silence fell across the clearing, as the clawed humanoid pushed the nearly decapitated Trooper of his weapons with a disdainful snort, before it turned its exposed metallic skull towards the other troopers.

The troopers exchanged quick worried glances before they opened fire once more, and the marketplace was filled with the screams of blaster-bolts. The man moved with an animalistic viciousness, dodging some lasers, completely ignoring the impact of others as he made his way towards his next kill, moving far faster that a blaster-riddled body had any right to.

It was as the unknown being speared the chest of a Trooper, completely ignoring the thick armor it was wearing, before lifting the Imperial clean off his feet and in an unbelievable feat of strength threw it at its comrades, that Jyn snapped out of her daze and aimed her gun at the remaining Stormtroopers.

She had no idea where the man came from, what his motivation or allegiance was, by the Force, she didn't even know _what_ he was, but he was here, and he was killing the people trying to kill her, and it would just have to be enough.

For now.

Slowing her breath, she sighted down the barrel of her blaster, and took out a Trooper that was about to shoot the clawed man in the back, before picking her next target.

* * *

Cassian Andor was not having a very good day. Then again, he couldn't really remember the last good day he had, there were only days that were less terrible and those had become increasingly rare these last few years.

It came with fighting for a struggling rebellion against a galaxy-spanning superpower, he supposed.

Still, being forced to travel with a stray was something he could deal with, because even though said stray seemed to take it as a personal challenge to give him the biggest headache in the history of headaches, she had a spine that could put more than a few Rebel fighters to shame, and he could respect that at least.

Even the fact that he had been given a separate assassination mission that was in conflict with the mission the Rebel Alliance had given him didn't really bother him anymore; it wasn't the first time that he had been sent on such missions and until death finally decided to cut him a break and come collect him it wouldn't be the last.

However, the ethical ramifications of using a man's daughter in order to track him down and kill him, that didn't sit all too well with him. But then again, he had done a lot of unethical things in his service to the Rebel Alliance. This would just have to add to his long list of nightmares. But it did put him in a foul mood.

Which was why he was steadily getting convinced that the universe decided to finally punish his wicked deeds by having him almost drag his hair out when he and his stray were caught up in a shoot-out with a squadron of Imperial Stormtroopers in one of the biggest operations of the Empire this side of the Sector!

Did the woman not understand the meaning of stealth?!

Firing blindly from his cover at the imp scum, Cassian sought out his companion in all of the mayhem, seeing her crouched behind a couple of crates, before she managed to dash towards some better defenses under his covering fire.

Satisfied his only lead to his mark was still alive, Cassian made to continue his assault on the Stormtroopers, his mind honed by a lifetime of fighting a war from the shadows already coming up with several escape strategies, when he saw something that made him reaffirm that the woman was an instrument of the universe sent to punish him through a lethally severe headache.

Because there she was, Jyn Erso, in all her slender, spitfire glory…

… breaking cover and sprinting through a hail of blasterbolts.

Yep.

Either she was stark raving mad, or doing her Force-damned best to turn him insane instead.

Sure, he had seen the civilian stumbling out onto the marketplace and into the sight of the Stormtroopers as well as she had, but the human wasn't a priority right now, the mission was. Of course that meant that the man would die, which was tragic in and of itself, but he was just one of thousands who fell to the Empire, some faceless nobody to be added to the masses.

Cassian fought for those civilians, yes, but in order to fight for them he had to survive first, which made his life a priority over theirs. Sad, and perhaps ruthless, but this was just the way things had to be.

That is, until the man survived getting half of his face blown off.

Oh, and apparently had a skull made of metal.

' _snikt!'_

Not to mention the dangerous looking metallic claws jumping out from between the man's knuckles.

Like Jyn, he quickly accepted the fact that the unknown being seemed to focus on killing their enemies for them, but even as he continued firing his mind followed a different path. A soldier who was immune to blaster-fire, or any mortal wounds whatsoever? That was a soldier that the Rebel Alliance could use.

Unfortunately, this was also true for the Empire.

Faster than the lasers dancing around him, Cassian's mind went through several options, ranging from recruitment for the Rebel Alliance, to elimination to spite the Empire, before settling on a course of action that was a little bit of both.

He didn't have the time for the full Alliance pitch, if the unknown being survived this battle the best he could do was simply point the man in one of the many cells the Rebel Alliance had scattered throughout this sector.

Force be damned, even Saw Gerrera was a better option than letting the Empire swoop in and turn the man to their own cause, and they would be a lot less pleasant than even Saw would be to him.

As he shot down a Trooper that had tried a flanking maneuver, his eyes landed on the immortal, who's skin had even grown back, now only sporting an empty eye socket in a snarling face, just as the being slammed one clawed hand in a Stormtroopers chest and the other in the poor bastards underbelly, before lifting the man clear above his head, and throwing the Troopers at his comrades, trails of blood arching through the air.

Yeah, he and Saw would probably be best buds in no time at all.

However, if Cassian had learned one thing above all else in his time as a Rebel officer, it was that every plan was doomed to fail if one didn't account for the Empire screwing everything up.

In this scenario, that meant the Imp scum getting their hands on this man, and setting him loose on the Alliance, or worse, reverse-engineer what made the immortal capable of surviving a blasterbolt to the face and remain on his feet and fighting and using that knowledge to raise an undying army.

So, the plain boiled down to pointing the man in the direction of the alliance, and figuring out just what it would take to put the rampaging berserker down once his back was turned.

* * *

A final scream echoed out over the now ruined market, before a deafening silence filled the burning air. The man who had woken up in this world not moments ago let out a snarl at the dead white-clad soldier at his feet, before his hearing picked up movement behind him.

' _Two persons, light. Too light to be one of these guys. Might be connected, probably not, can't hear armor. One of them a woman. The man… gotta be careful of that one, smells dangerous. She does too.'_

Turning around with his bloodied claws extended, a snarl on his face, the immortal tried to hide a wince as he did so. Damage to his face, and especially his eye, always hurt to regenerate, and those lasers had packed an enormous punch, slamming the wind out of him more often that he would've liked, only his building rage keeping him on his feet.

Still, he could feel the familiar burn of his wounds knitting together, though he could tell that he was healing slower than usual, the cauterizing effects of the lasers slowing his regeneration down enough for him to notice it, but not enough to keep him down.

Yet.

Knowing they had lost the advantage of stealth, the man and woman came out of their shelter, though the man could tell that they were veterans of some kind, the man keeping both him and the woman in his field of vision and the woman angling her slight body just so that she offered the smallest target to the both of them.

She had also yet to put away her baton, and while she didn't have her gun trained on him like the other man had, he could tell she had no hesitation of putting a laser in his forehead.

Probably with impeccable precision right between his eyes even, as he looked at her hardened face, seeing only a veteran of the worst kind of conflict staring back at him, not backing down the least, even surrounded by bodies as he was.

"Why did you fight against the Stormtroopers?" she called out.

' _So that's what they're called.'_ The immortal mused as he stared at the formerly-white clad soldiers, though they were now mostly colored red.

Getting disemboweled will do that to you.

It's a pain to wash out.

Looking back at the woman, who hadn't relaxed from her guarded position, he offered a shrug, though like her he remained on guard, having yet to retract his claws.

"They shot me in the face. I don't take too kindly to that."

Not satisfied with his answer, the woman narrowed her eyes, gripping her baton just a little tighter.

"Are you with Saw Gerrera? You're not with the Empire, and I doubt the Alliance would've been able to keep something like you a secret for very long in their rebellion."

Glancing pointedly at the cut apart bodies littering the market, she looked back at him with a challenging eyebrow lifted.

"Or really approve of your methods, for that matter."

The man frowned, partially because of the unfamiliar names the woman kept throwing at him, partially because his eye was finally regenerating and fuck did that hurt like a bitch and a half.

"Dunno what you're on about darlin', all I know is a bunch of sci-fi looking soldiers shot my face off just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I ain't really fond of those kind of soldiers."

Apparently that was the wrong answer, since both the woman and the man tensed up at his apparent lack of recognition at the names, the woman now also pointing her gun in his direction.

The immortal tensed his body, preparing to leap into attack, not fancying getting blasted with those lasers again, while his body was still repairing the extensive damage from his run-in with the red bolts not even a minute ago.

However, before the tension could turn into an outright battle, a faint sound made the three of them freeze in their tracks.

The sounds of metal-clad boots slamming against a dirt road.

A _lot_ of boots, in fact.

Before they could make a break for it, every exit out of the marketplace filled up with a wall of Stormtroopers, all of them training their weapons on the only living beings in the massacred market.

Their emotionless mask didn't give anything away, but the feral man could almost smell their collective anger, and became very still.

One wrong move, and they would all keep firing until all that was left of him would be his skeleton.

Given the firepower those guns had, it wouldn't even take all that long, he figured.

Thanks, but no thanks.

A tense silence fell across the empty marketplace, the three of them not willing to make the first move, the Stormtroopers just itching to act upon it.

Just as the berserker was about to take his chances and throw himself at the nearest Stormtroopers, as waiting around wasn't really his style anyway, the tension was suddenly broken by the soft tapping of a stick on stone.

"I am one with the Force, the Force is with me."

At one end of the marketplace, there was a little scuffle, as the formerly closed ranks of the Stormtroopers were pushed around a little.

"I am one with the Force, the Force is with me."

Suddenly, a diminutive man stepped out from the ranks of confused Stormtroopers, who were clearly struggling with the decision between shooting this obviously blind newcomer, or the dangerous trio in front of them.

"I am one with the Force, the Force is with me."

"Hold it right there!"

Pausing in his tracks, the blind man turned slightly, his unseeing eyes focused on a point somewhere in the direction of the barked order.

One of the soldiers stepped forwards a little, gun now trained on the Asian looking man, who sported an unconcerned expression.

That just made the immortal all the more weary of him.

Never trust a guy who remains calm when he gets a weapon shoved in his face.

Bad things tend to happen very shortly after that.

And never to the guy getting threatened.

Apparently one of the other Stormtroopers picked up on something about the blind man as well, as he spoke up, his voice urgent.

"Sir, he's blind!"

The first Stormtrooper lacked his comrade's intuitive survival instinct, because he stepped even closer to the newcomer, though to his credit he kept his weapon primed.

"He ain't deaf is he? Put down your… weapons!" the Stormtrooper who had taken charged barked again, though he gave a slight pause when he glanced at the berserkers bloodied claws.

"You are surrounded and outnumbered!"

If the Trooper thought his order would be obeyed, he was sorely disappointed when none of the three fighters even so much as moved a muscle, while the blind newcomer didn't have a weapon to begin with.

Before the chatty Trooper could bark another order, he was interrupted by a soft chuckling from the blind man.

"Outnumbered? My, my, it seems it is _you_ who is deaf, my friend, or you just haven't been listening to my mantra. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me." The monk replied in a genial voice.

Angered by the lack of response and fear of his armor and weapon, the Stormtrooper aggressively stepped closer, lifting his gun a little higher.

"And what's that supposed to mean, huh?!"

"It means that I am _never_ outnumbered."

And before anyone could so much as blink, the monk whipped around his staff with enough speed to make it whistle through the air, crashing it against the side of the Stormtrooper's helmet with a harsh crack, throwing him to the ground.

The soldier didn't get back up.

The soldiers of the Empire showed their brutal training however, and didn't hesitate to open fire, but they were interrupted by a hail of powerful bolts scattering their closely held battle formation.

And then the monk _moved_.

It wasn't fighting, it wasn't dancing, hell, it wasn't even a weird combination of the two.

But he could _move_.

Bolts, missing him by inches, even when they should have hit. Him moving out of the way seconds before he would've been hit, even from angles that he wasn't facing, though that shouldn't have mattered since he was _blind_ in the first place.

And all the while he was jumping around, spinning on his toes, his staff cracking out fast like a whip, felling Stormtroopers left and right.

The clawed man looked at the spectacle with wonder, before shaking himself. Already the Stormtroopers were regrouping from the sudden heavy blaster fire, moving in formation from cover to cover, slowly surrounding the fighters.

Letting out a roar, he threw himself at the nearest Stormtroopers, managing to catch one by surprise by removing his head from his shoulders. The headless Imperial's comrades took particular offence to that, and his healing chest was assaulted by concentrated laser fire, throwing him back a few feet.

He could see the man and woman back to back now, the woman taking down a Stormtrooper in a beautiful show of sheer aggression and broken bones, but they were surrounded in the open, while the blind (?) monk was steadily running out of opponents, most of the Troopers pulling back out of the reach of the man's dangerous staff and preferring to rain down death from afar.

He worked himself to his feet, glaring one-eyed at his attackers, and made to jump at them-

BOOOMM!

-before being blasted back to the ground by the force of a grenade going off right in the middle of the group of Troopers, taking them down in a hail of fire and shrapnel.

Similar explosions rang out across their part of town, accompanied by blaster fire coming from the rooftops, before silence fell once more, a heavy smoke lingering in the air, making it hard to breathe.

A pair of scaly hands grabbed him by his shoulders, and he instictively tried to fight them off, but he was still dazed from having his chest shot to hell, and then being knocked on his ass by a grenade going off in his face.

He still managed a snarl and clamped his jaws around the scaly hand digging into a wound on his shoulder, but all he got in return were a bunch of harsh sounds in a language he didn't recognize, and a blow to his head, which only worsened his headache.

He felt himself being dragged to his feet and brought over to where the man and woman, the monk and a rough looking man in armor who he didn't recognize were being rounded up.

As he got closer to them, he saw that they all paused in their struggling against the new people in concealing robes and masks, as captor and captive alike stared at his chest.

Feeling self-conscious, the immortal looked down, only to give an annoyed groan.

The concentrated fire, combined with the battle only minutes before, had completely shredded his shirt, exposing his chest to the world. The worst part however, was that the incredible firepower of the laserguns had burned away some amount of skin and muscle, allowing several glinting ribs to show from underneath his ruined flesh.

A particularly ugly alien seemed to be particularly interested in that, especially as slowly, but visibly, his wounds were growing shut before their very eyes.

The truly hideous alien barked out an order, again in a language he didn't understand, and the immortal was half-dragged, half-pushed to follow in the sorry group of captives, ending up behind the monk and in front of the unknown armored man.

They were both blindfolded, even the blind man, he noticed to his bland amusement, before his world went dark as well, the rough cloth biting in his newly regrown skin.

He managed to avoid stumbling (much) at least, so at least there was that.

"Hello friend. My name is Chirrut Imwe, of the Guardians of the Whills. Behind you walks my long-time friend and my protector, Baze Malbus." The monk in front of him suddenly spoke up, not a hitch in his step, his tone open and inviting, though the feral man's hearing picked up faint traces of fear and apprehension.

"Protector? From what I saw, you ain't exactly someone who needs protecting bub." The immortal growled out, and though he couldn't see it, he could almost _feel_ the monk's smile.

"It is a harsh galaxy, my friend. Everybody needs protecting, sometimes. What is your name?" the blind man answered easily and the immortal remained silent for several moments, feeling the attention of the others on him as well.

"Logan." He finally grumbled.

"My name is Logan."

* * *

 **Fun Fact:** According to the book _The Making of Star Wars_ , George Lucas originally planned for Yoda to be played by a monkey wearing a mask and carrying a cane.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The walk was long, it was hot, and it was boring as hell, and Logan considered multiple times to unleash his claws and teach these aliens why it's a bad idea to try and contain a Wolverine. However, he could also tell that these guys were, if not professionals, then at the very least battle-hardened, and taking their worn-down equipment, definitely desperate.

One wrong move from him, and the rest of the prisoners would be dead faster than you could say 'ah shit'.

And despite not knowing his fellow prisoners all that well, it didn't sit right with Logan to have their deaths on his conscious, only because he couldn't stick it out for one boring roadtrip.

'Sides, listening between the banter between the monk and his mercenary bodyguard was kinda growing on him.

"What do you mean, I need to be more careful?!"

"I am just saying, my old friend, while I appreciate your assistance, I would certainly appreciate it even more if you didn't almost shoot me."

"You needed my help and you know it!"

"I am one with the Force, Baze, it protected me."

" _I_ protected you!"

This went on for what felt like hours, before they finally left the scorching gaze of the sun as they stepped into the shade. As the bag was roughly ripped from his head, Logan barely managed to make out the shape of either a mountain, or a ridiculously large statue.

Any further observation was cut off as the merry band of prisoners was led inside what Logan assumed was their base, though their captors made sure to harshly drag them along when one of them spent a little too long looking at the various chambers inside the base, and the hardened looking people that occupied them.

They quickly came into a relatively large common area, with various groups of rebels gathered around, either checking their gear, or engaging in games of one kind or another, with a group of holes lining one wall having been turned into makeshift cells by installing barred doors in front of them.

Logan growled as one of his captors slammed the butt of their rifle into his back, throwing him into the cell where his fellow prisoners were kept. The little lady had been taken away however, apparently to meet with whoever was leading this bunch of lowlifes.

Getting to his feet with an angry snarl, Logan turned around and walked at the bars shutting him in, one arm drawn back in preparation to slice right through them with his claws.

Beasts like him didn't appreciate being caged.

"Please friend, there is no need for that." sounded the serene voice from the monk, Chirrut behind him.

Looking over his shoulder with an incredulous expression, one he saw mirrored on the spy Cassian's face, Logan stared at the blind monk with a raised eyebrow.

"If we wanna get outta here, then yeah, it _is_ necessary bub."

"Ah, but that is assuming that we want to get out of here in the first place." The monk said with a beaming smile.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Logan stared at the grinning blind man.

"You don't wanna be free?"

"The Force is with me, my friend, it shall set me free." Chirrut answered, his voice sounding like he was generously imparting some great wisdom on less fortunate beings.

"He always like this?" Logan asked of the man's bodyguard, Baze, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, you get used to it. After a while."

At that, the Wolverine gave up, throwing his arms to the sky. Or rocky ceiling in this case, as they hadn't seen the sky since their captors had dragged them inside their base, which appeared to be made from rough-hewn rocky caves, all linked together in an incomprehensible maze of pathways.

Plopping himself down against one of the walls in their cell, Logan rested his arms on his knees, idly noting that he'd need a change of wardrobe sooner rather than later, as he stared at the frayed edges and holes in his jeans.

And that was ignoring the ruined scraps that were all that remained from what once used to be his shirt.

A shuffling of boots on sand made his head snap up, dark eyes pinning the Cassian in place, who had stepped away from his own examination of their cell door (more specifically it's shoddy electronic lock) and had made his way towards him.

To the spy's credit, other than a tensing of his muscles in preparation of a fight-or-fly situation, the man didn't hesitate in his approach when Logan's gaze fell on him.

Sliding down to sit next to him, Cassian didn't bother with small-talk, apparently recognizing the kind of man Logan was and realizing that that sort of thing would only serve to piss him off.

Better to get to the metaphorical point, before Logan decided to use a more literal point.

"So, who made you? It wasn't the Rebellion, I would've known. I don't think you're Empire, or if you are, you are _deep_ in black-ops. The Hutts maybe?"

Glancing at the spy from the corner of his eye, Logan gave him a calculating look, trying to hide the fact that he didn't recognize a single organization the man had just named.

"You seem to have your theories already. Why don't you tell me?"

At that, Cassian let out an easy laugh, one obviously meant to put others at ease, but the cold, ruthless look in his eyes merely made the hairs on Logan's neck stand on end.

"Because I wish for verification, of course! Theories are all well and good, my friend, but they're no use to anyone without facts. So… what are the facts about you, I wonder?"

"Why should I tell you, bub?" Logan growled, subtly trying to shift his body so that he could easier face the spy, allowing him to use his claws better.

"Because, my friend, regardless of what the blind monk has to say, I _do_ need to leave this cell. And if my escape includes you or not, well, that's entirely up to you now."

Rising to his feet, Cassian mirroring his movement, Logan stared the spy straight in the eye.

"Not that it's any of your business, or that I'd even need you to get out of my place, but nature did this. Nature turned me into a freak. And then man made me into a weapon. And God made it all last too long."

Stepping closer to Cassian, annoyance flaring up inside him when the man held his ground in the form of a rumbling growl deep in his chest, Logan lowered his voice to a furious snarl.

"So the next time you find yourself trapped inside a cage with something like me, _don't_ ask how they ended up that way. It ain't pretty, and it sure as hell ain't any of your fucking business."

In the tense silence that followed, Cassian still not backing up even as he was chest to chest with the mutant weapon, Chirrut tapped his friend's leg with his staff.

"Baze, what's happening?"

"The little guy is about to get gutted by the clawed guy. That, or they're gonna start making out." Baze rumbled in an odd mix of annoyance and amusement.

Quickly separating at the looming mercenary's words, Cassian coughed into his hand, before looking at Logan.

"Nature made you like this? I haven't heard of a species with your abilities before. Some races have regeneration, but none on a level like yours. What planet did you say you were from again?"

"I never said what planet I'm from." Logan replied flatly.

Another silence fell, before Cassian realized that Logan wasn't going to continue with a sigh, and instead walked over to the hole in the wall where they could look into their adjacent cell, where Logan now realized was a man with a dazed expression muttering nonsense.

Leaving the spy to his interrogation, Logan made his way to where Chirrut was sitting on a rocky outcropping, seeing Baze tense at his approach, but the gruff man remained where he was standing guard.

Crouching in front of the blind monk, yet somehow feeling as the man 'looked' at him, Logan cleared his voice, before beginning to talk in low tones.

"So speaking about planets… which one is this?"

"My friend, I cannot help but wonder at what manner of travel you have used to end up on a planet of which you do not know even the name." Chirrut said with a small smile.

Logan shifted uncomfortably on his feet, trying to deflect the question.

"It's a long story bub. It ain't a pretty one neither, and I don't think I understand it all myself."

 _Rain and fire in a swirling vortex of maddening power around them-_

 _Screams of the dead and dying, both turning to dust-_

 _Pain as his flesh was ripped from his bones-_

" _It has to be you!"-_

Shaking his head to clear it from the dark memories, Logan focused on the monk again.

"Never mind that, now, what the hell is this dust ball called?"

"Very well, my friend, there is no need to guard your secrets so desperately. I am one with the Force, it will tell me what I need to know, and if I am not to know about your secrets, than I shall not, for that is how the Force wills it. Now, we are on the holy moon of Jedha, which orbits the planet Jedha in-"

Unfortunately, before Chirrut could continue his exposition, the entire cave shook violently, throwing all the inmates to the ground, and all of their guards in panicked disarray.

"Now can we leave?!" Logan roared, jumping to his feet.

"The Force wills it so, yes!" Chirrut called back, smoothly standing back up as well.

"Good! _I_ will it as well!" Baze yelled in annoyance from where he had been thrown against the ground, his heavy armour making getting up somewhat of a chore.

As Logan and Chirrut helped the mercenary back on his feet, Cassian was desperately trying to hack the electronic lock, trying to force his arms through the bars of their cage.

"That takes too long, stand back!" Logan growled, and with a _'snikt'_ popped his claws.

Seeing the gleaming pieces of metal spring from his fellow inmate's knuckles, and vividly remembering the dismembering they had done a few hours ago, Cassian quickly took a step back as Logan slashed at the door, his adamantium claws cutting through the celldoor with a shower of sparks and barely any resistance.

As they quickly filed out of the cramped cell, Baze immediately making his way over to where their captors had roughly tossed his weapons with a furious expression, Cassian pointed at where the mumbling man sat in the cell next to theirs.

"Quickly! Get him out as well, we need him!"

"I don't take orders from you!" Logan roared back, but he still made his way to the other celldoor as Cassian ran off deeper into the base, trying to get the little lady back.

He quickly slashed the door to pieces, before reaching in and bodily hauling the man outside, who looked around with wide, not-seeing eyes.

"Let's go!"

"I am Bodhi!"

"That's real nice, but we gotta _go_!"

"I am the pilot!"

"Oh for fuck's sakes…"

What followed was a mad dash through the maze of corridors, recreation rooms and armouries as captors and prisoners alike struggled to get to the outside as fast as possible, hurried along by a sense of urgency that was enforced by the increasingly violent shakes of the base.

Logan had no idea what could make the earth move like that, and honestly he'd rather not find out any time soon.

At some point, Logan, Chirrut, Baze and the now named Bodhi (as he kept referring to himself over and over again) were joined by a panting Cassian and a red-eyed Jyn, though the lithe woman didn't let her blurry vision keep her from sprinting ahead of all of them, vaulting over discarded equipment and fallen bits of ceiling.

As they ran out of the narrow exit, heat and sand blasted them in the face. Shielding his face with his arm, Logan squinted as he glanced at where they were going.

And promptly felt his mouth fall open. As did his fellow inmates'.

The horizon, in a violent storm of earth and fire, was climbing up towards the sky. In a stomach-turning reverse kind of tsunami, great slabs of ground were buckling and heaving as they were upturned, being thrown kilometres high into the sky.

And it was coming their way.

"Come one, let's go!"

Jyn's voice shook them out of their reverie, and they followed her as she ran towards an incoming spaceship, a tiny silver speck of dust against the raging wave of the planet's crust.

The ground in front of them started to rise, as the mountain behind them began to come crashing down. The spaceship came in low, banking hard and throwing up even more dust. It didn't quite touch down as a hangar door on its side slid open, and Logan threw I am Bodhi, I am the Pilot roughly inside, before jumping in himself, right as the ground underneath started to shake and rise with the rest of the ground.

"Get us out of here!" Cassian roared to the front of the ship as the hangar door slid shut behind Logan.

The immortal was so out of it, he only noticed that their driver was a robot when it spoke up, its synthetic voice unsettling in its dryness as the world collapsed around them.

++ I am not expecting much of our chances ++

"Not now!" Cassian yelled back at the black robot, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckled fists.

For some reason, the sense of urgency and slight panic in the spy's voice was more soothing to Logan's frazzled senses than the calm and collected voice of the robot. Fear was far more relatable, fear was good, it kept you alive.

As he looked out the window, Logan couldn't help the sense of vertigo as the very earth itself turned into a rolling wave. As the sun started to get blotted out, the mountain sized pieces of rock that had been thrown to the sky only now coming back down crashing around their ears, Logan felt as if they were in the gaping maws of some great beast, ready to snap its jaws shut and consume them whole.

"Punch it!" Cassian yelled, as the storm of dust and rock closed in on them, chunks of earth coming around them like pouring rain.

++ I haven't finished my calculations yet! ++ the robot protested, making Logan wonder what kind of math was more important than not getting crushed by a mountain falling from the sky.

"I'll make them for you." The spy answered determined, before using the incomprehensible interface in some way Logan felt he had no chance of ever understanding, before he pushed a lever forward…

… and they were gone. The shaking and rumbling had suddenly cut off, and instead of seeing the apocalypse when he looked out the window, all Logan now saw was a swirling white-blue vortex.

"What the hell was _that_?" Logan asked nobody in particular, but it was Chirrut who answered him, any levity bled from his voice, as he stared ahead of him with a sombre expression, one mirrored by the silent Baze.

" _That_ … that was the fury for the Empire, their callousness."

"You understand now why I asked who made you? My people are fighting that, and if we were ever compromised, we would be done for, and the Empire could continue attacks like this unchallenged across the galaxy." Cassian spoke as he made his way from the pilot seat to the rest of them

"You say it like they can be challenged now." Logan said roughly.

He had seen a lot of weird and terrible shit in his life. The horizon itself rising up to swallow you whole? No matter how though you think you are, stuff like that tended to make an impression.

At his words, Cassian faltered, looking for a rebuttal, before slumping against the wall of the ship in defeat.

"Yes. They can."

All of them turned surprised at the strength in Jyn's voice. She looked them all straight in the eye however, and spoke with utmost conviction.

"We get to my father. He knows how."

Silence followed the powerful statement, before it was broken by Logan, who had crossed his arms in front of his ruined shirt and stood with a scowl on his face.

"Count me in then. I don't know who this Empire is, and I don't care. I'm not gonna allow shit like that to happen anymore."

 _Claws sinking into a stomach-_

 _Tears streaming down his face-_

" _Thank you…"-_

"We shall be a part of this venture as well. The Force wills it." Said Chirrut, though this time his serenity had been replace by a quiet calm, eyes for the first time truly looking at nothing as he contemplated the destruction of the temple he had sworn to protect.

Tellingly, Baze didn't refute his partner's words, simply gripping his weapon tighther.

"I am Bodhi, I am the pilot. I am in too" Logan looked over his shoulder at the small man sitting huddled in on himself on the bench.

His hands were shaking, and his gaze was fearful, but they could all still hear the conviction in his voice.

Jyn gave him a warm smile, which the pilot shakily return before looking at Cassian, who furrowed his brow as he stared at the floor.

"Cassian?"

The spy looked up with a weary look, gazing at them in turn, only to be met by a wall of determination. Finally he gave a sigh, before glancing at Jyn, giving her a nod and getting a grin in return.

"Very well. Where to?"

"Eadu. We are going to Eadu."

* * *

 **Fun Fact:** "Ewok" was never said by a character in the original trilogy. Although, the species is identified in the script and closing credits.


End file.
